Clark, Fever to vie for Cup after physical win

INDIANAPOLIS -- Caitlin Clark had 20 points, six assists and four 3-pointers and the Indiana Fever beat the Connecticut Sun 88-71 on Tuesday night in a physical game that included three late ejections.

With 46.1 seconds left, Connecticut guard Jacy Sheldon made a steal and raced the other way before being wrapped up by Sophie Cunningham under the basket for a hard foul. Sheldon got up quickly and got into a shoving match with Cunningham, leading to Cunningham, Sheldon and Lindsay Allen all getting ejected.

Sheldon was also the center of another official review in the third quarter after she poked Clark in the eye and then Marina Mabrey came in late to shove Clark to the floor. Three technical fouls were called, leading to Clark's three free throws for a 58-45 lead.

The Indiana win, combined with an Atlanta loss to New York, secured the Fever's spot in the Commissioner's Cup with a 4-1 record. The Fever held the tiebreaker with the Liberty after a 102-88 win Saturday.

Kelsey Mitchell added 17 points and Natasha Howard had 16 points and 12 rebounds for Indiana (6-5), which went above .500 for the first time since the third game of the season. Damiris Dantas scored a season-high 13 and Howard secured her 50th career double-double.

Tina Charles led Connecticut (2-9) with 20 points. Olivia Nelson-Ododa added 14 points and Jaelyn Brown scored 13.

Clark, who returned from an injury Saturday to make seven 3-pointers against New York, made her first three 3-pointers against the Sun and scored 12 points in the first half to help Indiana build a 47-39 lead.

Connecticut was within 50-43 with 8:15 remaining in the third quarter but did not make another field goal until the 2:49 mark to trail by 12 points.

Clark's fourth 3-pointer made it 84-64.